William gray



' (Np Model.)

W. GRAY. TELEPHONE TOLL STATION.

No. 593,720. Patented Nov. 16,1897.

UNITED STATES PATE T FFICE;

\VILLIAM GRAY, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE GRAY TELEPHONE PAY STATION COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

TEL EPHON E TOLL-STATION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 593,720, dated November 16, 1897. Application filed November 17, 1893. Serial No- 49l,190. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM GRAY,Of Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Telephone Toll-Stations, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description,whereby any one skilled in the art can make and use the same.

My invention relates to the class of devices which are used in connection with a telephone and call signal for the purpose of indicating to the central office the prepayment of a toll which may be required for the use of the instrument.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple and compact combination of devices by means of which the signal sounded by the coin inserted in a box or like receptacle may be transmitted clearly to the central office over the wires; and to this end my invention consists in the combination, with the set of telephone instruments, of the sound-conducting apparatus appurtenant to the signal device, as hereinafter described, and more particularly pointed out in the claim.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a detail plan view of what I have termed a set of telephone instruments, including the paystation box. Fig. 2 is a detail edge view of the backboard, showing the connected set of instruments mounted thereon. Fig. 3 is a detail view, in vertical section, transversely through the backboard and through the signal-box.

In the accompanying drawings, the letter (1 denotes a backboard of usual construction, to

struments is wired up in the usual manner and provided with a telephone 6, connected as by cords and adapted to be supported on the usual hook f.

, Within the coin -'box is arranged a diaphragm placed diagonally from near the front upper edge of the signal-box and terminating -ily thrown out.

, mitter-arm, which is pivoted to it.

at the back a sufficient distance from the bottom of the signal-box to allow space below these for the coin-drawer. This diaphragm is preferably of metal cast to shape as to the part g, and a cover h, preferably of wood, is used for the upper side. This diaphragm or channel-board is patterned after that used in the prior forms of signal-boxes, the board being preferably provided with' open spaces through top and bottom for lightness and for the purpose of allowing the sound to be read- Channels are formed in this board, as shown in United States Patent to C. W. Holbrook, No. 481,903, dated August 30, 1892, and signal devices, as gongs i, have their edges projecting into the path of movement of coins, which may be inserted through openings in the cover of the signal-box and dropped into the channels, so that in their downward progress they encounter the gong or like device and cause a signal to be sounded, these signal devices being arranged with reference to the channels, as shown in the United States Patent to William Gray, No. 469,649, dated February 23, 1892.

The channel-board g his secured to the top of .the signal-box d, and a metallic striphaving openings for the insertion of coins is secured to the top of the signal-box or to the channel-board, as by means of screws, the openings in the coin-plate overlying and registering with the proper channels or chutes for the respective coins. The transmitter c has a base piece or support 0, usually of cast metal, made hollow to form a coil-box, or in other convenient form to support the trans- It is important to my improvement that this transmitter-support,whether a hollow box or solid arm, shall be arranged firmly in contact with ,that part of the signal-box (as the top) to which has been found advisable to use a special defiector arranged with special relation to the box and to a transmitter, the object being to afford means for clearly conveying to the transmitter the sound made by the falling coin, but by closing in the signal-box, as described, on all sides and having a portion of the box in actual contact with the arm of the transmitter or a connected base-piece which supports it it has been found by experiment that the sound is conducted through the sides of the box and through the transmitter base or arm, so as to perfectly reproduce the signals with suflicient distinctness and clearness to enable them to be heard over the line. A thorough test in practical use of many hundred specimens of the class of such apparatus embodying a deflector as a meansof conveying the sound of the signal from within the signal-box has brought out serious objections to the deflector. The sound-waves are apt to become confused and dulled in the deflector. The top of the deflector should be so placed that its opening at all times is directly opposite the transmitter, and this interferes with the proper use of the transmitter, which in practice must be adjusted up and down for the use of different persons. hen the deflector is made in sections, the upper section is joined to the mouthpiece of the trans- 1nitter,which is lengthened to accommodate 4 it,with' the result that the vocal sounds made in talking are interfered with. These are several of the objections to the deflector as an element in the combination in the apparatus. This particular construction and arrangement of the several parts of the apparatus enables me to dispense with any particular and special deflector or convcyer'so far as clearness in conveyance of the signal is concerned, this being produced by utilizing the conductivity of the wood and an integral portion of that partof the apparatus which immediately supports the transmitter.

I claim as my invention- In combination with a set of telephone instruments, a signal-box containing a channelboard, a signal device located in the path of the falling coin, openings through the wall of the box for the reception of a coin, the channel-board secured in firm contact with a wall of the signal-box, the transmitter, and the transmitter-support secured in firm contact with that part of the signal-box to which the channel-board is secured, all substantially as described.

' \VILLIAM GRAY.

\Vitnesses:

CHAS. L. BURDETT, ARTHUR B. JENKINS. 

